The present invention is related to an apparatus for enabling manufacturing of feeds or organic fertilizers from food waste, particularly, to an automatic food waste processing system for performing a series of processes, including conveying, crushing or smashing, drying, and cutting the food waste, and removing alien substances and bad odors from the food waste, as well as automatically washing the system and enabling by-products obtained therefrom to be manufactured as feeds or organic fertilizers.
A food waste processing system is generally classified into: a microorganism processing method for ripening or fermenting the food wastes through cultivation of bacteria; and a physical processing method for mechanically crushing or smashing and drying the food waste.
The microorganism processing method has disadvantages in that microorganisms must be separately cultivated and, after throwing them into the food wastes, their growth environment is prepared. Further, it takes a relative long time for the fermentation of the food waste. Particularly, the microorganism processing method has a limitation to a permitted amount of the food waste to be processed because it is impossible to process more than the amount processable by the limited amount of cultivated microorganisms.
On the other hand, the physical processing method has been devoted to the technical development of crushing, compressing, and drying food wastes. Therefore, some degree of improvement in the food waste processing was accomplished, but most of the conventional physical apparatuses failed to process food wastes effectively.
A conventional physical processing apparatus has several problems due to its own properties as follows.
1. Lack of Countermeasures Against Processing Various Food Wastes
Although a physical processing apparatus should be able to process food wastes of hard materials, such as bones and tough fibroid materials (e.g., vegetables), its processing capability was substantially inclined to ignore various technical problems. For example, when the food waste with high viscosity, such as wet boiled rice leftover, is thrown into a crusher or a masher, it causes the apparatus to malfunction due to high viscosity of the wet boiled rice leftover. In addition, it is difficult to sort out various substances contained in the food waste during in the crushing process.
2. Lack of Consideration Regarding Foreign Substances in the Food Waste
A conventional physical processing apparatus did not adequately consider the possibilities that metallic materials, such as spoons and chopsticks, and non-metallic materials, such as vinyl polymers and plastics, may be included in the food waste. Therefore, it becomes apparent in the conventional physical processing apparatus that the foreign substances contained in the food waste without prior checking may cause the system to breakdown or damage.
3. Lack of Consideration Regarding Removal of Bad Odors
A conventional physical processing apparatus did not adequately consider the technology relating to removal of bad odors generated during the food waste processing. While most of the food waste composed of organic matters usually possesses inherent bad odors and releases the bad odor as time elapses or during crushing or smashing process, the prior art failed to remove the bad odor from the food waste.
4. Failure to Recognize a Need for Clean Maintenance During and After Use
A conventional physical processing apparatus has failed to recognize the need for clean maintenance during and after the use of physical processing apparatus. Since the physical processing apparatus for food waste is likely to be considered as unsanitary anyway, it only needs to clean the inner portion of the physical processing apparatus, together with its parts disassembled for keeping its good sanitary condition. For example, Korean Patent Publication No. 97-5419 (Korean Patent No. 172,570) discloses a food waste processing apparatus in which food waste is crushed into an uniform size while passing through the first and second crushing stages, materials of a higher specific gravity are deposited at the bottom of a storage container, and the crushed food waste is then dehydrated through the first and second stages and simultaneously compressed. At that time, the generated wastewater and sludge are finally stored in a separate storage container.
While this patent discloses steps of crushing, compressing, and dehydrating, it fails to disclose the steps of processing, drying, and deodorizing the food waste and cleaning the system. Particularly, the patent fails to provide a method for removing foreign substances, such as metals and woods, from the food waste.
Another automatic food waste processing apparatus is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 98-33544. The apparatus comprises steps of loading, crushing, compressing, and dehydrating food waste, and discharging by-products of the food waste. The technical contents are discussed below.
As shown in FIG. 7, the food waste is loaded into a hopper 1. A crusher 8 is positioned below the hopper 1 to crush the food waste passing through a return cover 69 with a rotary cutters 65 and a space ring 67 assembled thereinto. Thereafter, the crushed food waste is dropped down into a compressor 48. The compressor 48 is provided with a shaft 39 on which a conveyer screw is integrally mounted to convey the food waste. The return cover 69 is mounted on the crusher 8 to permit a predetermined size of the food waste to pass through and to be introduced into the crusher 8.
On the other hand, the food waste: not passing through the return cover 69 is re-circulated in the crusher 8 for crushing, or if the food wastes, such as meaty materials and fibroid materials, are piled up on the return cover 69, they are crushed again or forcibly drawn out of the crusher 8 with a water supply. The compressor 48 includes a dehydrating regulator (not shown) mounted on the discharging outlet 52 to control its inner pressure, whereby, the food waste is dehydrated and then discharged through the discharging outlet 52. The water waste is then discharged through a drain 83 into a sewer system. Also, the compressor 48 is provided with a cleaning device.
Further, the automatic food waste processing apparatus comprises an overload detecting device 99 to perform fail-safe function of the system when foreign substances, such as metal spoons and metal forks, cause an impediment against the operation of the crusher 8 and/or the compressor 48. In that case, a reverse-rotation button for a motor 45 provided in a control panel 28 is pushed to remove the foreign substances from the crusher 8 and the compressor 48. After the processing of the food waste, a cleaning device 27 opens a valve 25 and operates a plurality of spray nozzles related thereto, so that the water jets cleans the inner portions of the hopper 1, the crusher 8, and the compressor 48. A valve 25 is operated to allow washing water to be poured into the system, so that the cleaning and the removal of bad odors can be somewhat accomplished.
However, the automatic food waste processing apparatus permits removal of the foreign substances of metal materials jammed in the system only by manual operation. Further, crushing process of the food waste and/or the removal of the bad odors requires water, in which the used water is subject to sewage-disposal and environmental pollution.
Furthermore, since the automatic food waste processing apparatus focuses especially on the crushing and dehydrating processes, it is inevitable that the processed food waste contains water to some degree. This means that the processed food waste must be ultimately reprocessed through additional drying, fermentation, or freezing for its storage. As a result, it cannot be considered that the above-discussed automatic food waste apparatus processes the food waste efficiently.
Therefore, it is very preferable if the food waste is efficiently and automatically processed in a one-stop routine without requiring additional processes, which immediately enables manufacturing of feeds from the processed food waste.
An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic food waste processing system for efficiently and automatically processing food waste through a series of processes and, thereby, enabling manufacturing of feeds from the processed food waste.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic food waste processing system for efficiently and automatically processing wastes food waste through a series of processes, including steps of conveying, crushing or smashing, drying, and cutting the food waste, removing foreign substances, washing the system, and enabling manufacturing of feeds or organic fertilizers from the by-products of the processed food waste.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic food waste processing system for sorting and removing metal: materials, such as spoons or chopsticks, and non-metal materials, such as vinyl polymers and plastics, during the processing of the food waste.
Still, another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic food waste processing system for removing sludge and bad odors during the processing of food waste through a series of processes, and washing the system to maintain a sanitary condition when stopped.
Accordingly, an automatic food waste processing apparatus comprises a hopper for introducing food waste; a conveying apparatus connected to the hopper and including: a conveyer housing; a plurality of shower units coupled to upper and lower portions of the hopper; a pair of conveyer screws for conveying the food waste introduced into the hopper; a salt sensor and a water level sensor mounted on a predetermined position in the conveyer housing to detect salt concentration and water level of the food waste; and a discharger mounted at a bottom of the housing to automatically discharge water according to the water level and the salt concentration of the food waste; a crushing apparatus including: a crusher housing; a crusher having a crush roller and vertically mounted in the crusher housing to crush the food waste conveyed from the conveying apparatus; at least one remover arranged in the crusher housing to remove residue jammed between gears of the crushing roller; a separator connected to a power source for detecting and removing metallic materials; a sensor mounted at an upper portion of the crusher housing for determining an amount of the food waste; and at least one pair of shower nozzles separately arranged at a predetermined location in the housing; a drying apparatus including: a dryer housing having an insulating material on an outer surface; a cylinder having a heater and mounted to the dryer housing; a pair of conveyer screws configured to rotate in a direction appositive to each other to convey the food waste from the crushing apparatus and to remove moisture contained therein, wherein a pitch of the conveyer screw is relatively wider adjacent to an inlet portion and gradually narrowed toward an outlet portion; and a center shaft of the conveyer screw includes a heater rod inserted thereinto; a cutting apparatus mounted adjacent to the drying apparatus and including at least one cutting blade rotating at a higher speed than that of the conveyer screw, the cutting blade cutting dried food waste into chips having a predetermined size; a first chip conveying apparatus connected to the drying apparatus for conveying the dried chips to a second chip conveying apparatus, the first chip conveying apparatus capable of being reverse-rotated to prevent sludge introduction thereinto, the second chip conveying apparatus mounted adjacent to the outlet portion of the first chip conveying apparatus to facilitate the collection of the dried chips; a washing water removing apparatus including: a housing having an upper housing and a lower housing; the upper housing with one end portion communicating with the dryer housing, the middle portion of the upper housing communicating with the crusher housing, and the other end portion of the upper housing communicating with a drain pipe; a pair of conveyer screws in the upper housing; and the lower housing having one end portion communicated with a lower portion of the upper housing, an evaporator mounted to the lower housing, a conveyer mounted to the other end portion of the lower housing; and a sludge conveying apparatus mounted adjacent to the housing of the water washing removal apparatus to facilitate the collection of sludge.
Therefore, the present invention automatically processes food waste, including removing salt, drying, and removing bad odors, cutting the waste into little chips to enable manufacturing of feeds, and separating the sludge from the chips for their collection. It is noted that the present invention is affiliated with the natural environment by drying most of the moisture generated in the system and enables the automatic cleaning of the system.